Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Catching up on prospect lists

Miguel Sano signs autographs during TwinsFest last
weekend. The Dominican is one of the most-highly regarded
prospects in the minor leagues: No. 4 on MLB.com's
list, No. 14 in Baseball Prospectus' rankings.

Two notable sets of prospect rankings came out in recent days: MLB.com put out its Top 100 late last week, and on Monday Baseball Prospectus issued its Top 101.

Regarding the Twins -- the team of emphasis in this corner of the Internet -- there is some agreement and some notable divergence.

The Twins prospects on the MLB.com list:

Byron Buxton, OF, No 1.

Miguel Sano, 3B, No. 4

Alex Meyer, RHP, No. 28

Kohl Stewart, RHP, No.40

Jose Barrios, RHP, No. 90

The Twins prospects on the Baseball Prospectus list:

Buxton, No.1

Sano, No. 14

Meyer, No. 32

Stewart, No. 54

Josmil Pinto, C, No. 56

Eddie Rosario, 2B, No. 60

Berrios, No. 75

Lewis Thorpe, LHP, No. 101

An obvious point of convergence is Buxton. Both lists put him at the very top of the minor league heap. This is now conventional wisdom; Baseball America will have him No. 1 when it publishes its list next month.

Another agreement, at least in terms of the Twins rankings, is that Buxton is followed by Sano, Meyer and Stewart in that order. Again, that matches the BA list for the Twins, published earlier this month.

Now to the divergences: I was surprised when Baseball America didn't have Pinto in its Twins Top 10 rankings; I said at the time that I couldn't see ranking Pinto lower than fifth. Baseball Prospectus is the first list I've seen than agreed with me on that.

MLB and BA put Berrios ahead of Rosario; BP prefers the more advanced hitter. I agree with BP -- if Rosario is indeed a second baseman. He may not have the power to be a quality outfield regular.